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Definition: online music store


A Web-based service that sells copyrighted songs and albums for a fee. With Apple's iTunes being the most popular, an online music store is a legitimate music distribution organization that pays royalties to the music's copyright holders. Even Napster, which became infamous in the early 2000s for facilitating illegal copying, became a legitimate service in 2003.

Following are some of the major online music stores in alphabetical order. For music information in general, visit mp3.com. Contrast with peer-to-peer network, which allows people to share music, whether copyrighted or not. See music streaming service.

   Major Labels

   eMusic.com

   iTunes.com

   Napster.com

   Rakuten.com

   WalMart.com


   Independent Artists

   CDbaby.com

   LiveDownloads.com

   MySpace.com